Ebirah, Horror of the Deep (1966)

A young man steals a boat to find his brother, but he and his shipmates become shipwrecked on a mysterious island inhabited by a giant sea monster and a slumbering Godzilla.

Director:

Jun Fukuda

Writer:

Shin'ichi Sekizawa

Stars:

Akira Takarada, Kumi Mizuno, Chôtarô Tôgin

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Akira Takarada	...	Yoshimura
Kumi Mizuno	...	Daiyo
Chôtarô Tôgin	...	Ichino
Hideo Sunazuka	...	Nita
Tôru Ibuki	...	Yata Kane
Akihiko Hirata	...	Captain Yamoto
Jun Tazaki	...	Red Bamboo Commander
Tôru Watanabe	...	Ryôta Kane
Ikio Sawamura	...	Elderly Slave
Pair Bambi	...	Mothra's Little Beauties
Hideyo Amamoto	...	Red Bamboo Naval Officer
Hisaya Itô	...	Red Bamboo Scientist #1
Tadashi Okabe	...	Red Bamboo Scientist #2
Kazuo Suzuki	...	Escaped Slave
Shôichi Hirose	...	Escaped Slave

Storyline

Some teenagers want to obtain a boat to find a brother. When they look around a boat without permission, they find a thief who takes them on his escape. They are caught in a storm and arrive at Letchi Island where natives of Infant Island have been enslaved by the terrorist organisation Red Bamboo. Red Bamboo runs a heavy water factory to process a juice which holds off the monster, Ebirah, which otherwise traps them on the island. The young men meet beautiful but tough Daiyo and wake up Godzilla to put an end to the Red Bamboo.

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Plot Keywords:

godzilla character | psychotronic film | mothra character | island | boat | 

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Taglines:

This is one lobster you don't want to order!

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Genres:

Action | Adventure | Drama | Sci-Fi

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG for sci-fi monster violence

Did You Know?

Trivia

This was the final appearance of the "adult" Mothra in a Showa era film. Her next appearance in her adult form would be in the Heisei era film Godzilla and Mothra: The Battle for Earth (1992).

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Goofs

At the end, as Mothra flies back to her island, the basket she's carrying with the humans inside is missing.

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Quotes

Nita: What kind of laboratory, or a factory, is this?
Ichino: No idea.
Nita: I thought you studied science?
Ichino: But I didn't pass the first year. One thing's for sure, this place doesn't make toys.

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Crazy Credits

For the Columbia/Tri-Star U.S. DVD release, which uses the original uncut Japanese version, the English language credits list the noted composer Masaru Satô as "Mararu Sato."

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Alternate Versions

The original version featured a couple of scenes in which Ryota first goes to the Maritime Safety Office and then to a newspaper reporter to ask for help in locating Yata. It is while he is at the newspaper office that Ryota sees a poster on the wall about the dance contest.

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Connections

Follows Mothra vs. Godzilla (1964)

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Soundtracks

Samashite Mosura
(Mothra Awake)
Written and Arranged by Masaru Satô
Performed by Pair Bambi

User Reviews

A good entry in the series

This is one of the first Godzilla movies I saw, and when I see it now after seeing almost all of the other movies, it still holds up pretty well. The main problem is, of course, Ebirah. Definetly Godzilla's worst foe. I mean, really, A GIANT LOBSTER!? But, other than that, the film is quite good, following the usual trend that the Godzilla movies tend to have much better plots than their american counterparts of the time. Here we have a young man trying to find his brother taking his friends with him to look at boats. When they board one to look around, they find a man with a gun to greet them. He claims to be the owner and allows them to spend the night on the boat. When they wake up the next morning, however, the young man has taken the boat to find his brother. It's wrecked in a storm and they are stranded on an island where they discover a secret organisation called the Red Bamboo is using slave labor to make nuclear weapons. Ebirah, a giant lobster, prevents boats from entering or leaving the island, and Okondoru, a giant condor, prevents planes from arriving. The man who claimed to own the boat, Yoshimura, turns out to be both a thief and the most resourceful member of their little group (which now also includes an escaped slave played by the wonderful Kumi Mizuno). They discover that Godzilla is sleeping on the island, so they wake him up in order to stop the Red Bamboo. He trashes the base, defeats the two other, ahem, monsters, and the slaves and group are all saved by Mothra (who really isn't looking to good by now). The thief, Yoshimura, is definetly my favorite character in this, and the special effects are pretty good at times (he may be a pathetic monster, but Ebirah looks great). As a bonus, it also makes for a great MST3K episode.

Details

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Release Date:

1969 (USA)

Also Known As:

Godzilla, Mothra, and Ebira, Horror of the Deep

Box Office

Budget:

$1,200,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Toho Company

Technical Specs

Runtime:

87 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1